Career Progression: Inside the mind of a student

One question that always seems to occupy my mind is “How much further can I progress with my radiography career?” As a second‐year student, halfway through completing my degree, I am constantly thinking about what I want to do after I qualify, and I am sure a lot of other students (from first years up to third years) are in the same boat.

My mind is always in a constant circle of “What do I really want to do in my profession? Do I want to become CT radiographer? Or maybe become an advanced practitioner? Or maybe I want to qualify as an MRI radiographer? But what if I like fluoroscopy? Or what about reporting? But how about a sonographer? Or what if I just really want to stay in general X‐ray?” And I promise you, the possibility of questions in my mind are endless!

I will sit on my laptop for hours on end researching the various fields, yet I still seem to draw a blank with my ‘mental mind map’. I would love to know the different routes we can take after qualifying as radiographer; how many years it takes to get to each specific profession; and whether we need to take any further training and/or Masters/PgCert level education for each field.

Personally, I think the best way of finding my answers is by asking people in those professions. I think it would be great if we could get views from other radiographers in different areas (beyond the ones I have stated) and hear some stories of all the steps they took to get themselves to where they are today.

So I'd like to ask all our members, how did you decide what to do after you graduated? How did you decide on your specialism? To let us know, connect with @SCoRMembers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn using the hashtags #radcareers #myspecialism #studentfestival 

I can't wait to hear what you have to share. 

Shaheen x